Rohit Sharma once again proved he is a team player.
After getting the Man of the Match award for scoring his first overseas Test century at The Oval, the opening batsman said all-rounder Shardul Thakur deserved more than just appreciation for putting in the hard yards.
"I thought Shardul's was a match-winning effort. To be honest, he deserved the Man of the Match as well for the performance he put. A crucial breakthrough for the team when England were 100 without loss, getting that crucial breakthrough was very important and then getting the wicket of Joe Root as well, he came in and got the wicket," Rohit was quoted as saying by bcci.tv.
Praising Shardul's batting, the white-ball expert said, "How can we forget his batting, to come in and score 50 off just 31 balls in the first innings says a lot, he loves his batting and he has worked hard on it, I have seen him over the years. He wants to prove a point that he can bat and can give us momentum-changing innings as well. Yes, I got the Man of the Match, but I really feel he should have been part of that as well."
Virat's faith in his team
Virat Kohli on Monday rated his team's bowling performance in the fourth Test among top-three in his captaincy stint and extolled his players' strong character as India produced a superb 157-run win after conceding a huge 99-run lead against England. The Oval track did not offer much assistance to the fast bowlers but Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur shared seven wickets to bundle out England for 210, scripting India's comprehensive 157-run win.
"This is among the top three bowling performances I have witnessed as India captain," Kohli said with a big smile on his face during the presentation ceremony.
Kohli did not put much emphasis on the fact that it was a flat and placid track where his bowlers produced exceptional performance but hailed the strong character his players displayed after conceding a 99-run lead.
"It's quite relative what you call flat. The conditions were hot and we knew were in with an opportunity when Jadeja was bowling in the rough. The bowlers were good with the reverse swing today. We believed we could get all 10 wickets, we had the belief."
(With PTI inputs)